New report shows the happiest and most miserable places to live in Europe

Europe's happiest and most miserable cities have been ranked in a new map exploring the EU's quality of life. In 2023, the European Commission released a report exploring people's satisfaction with their cities across the bloc and beyond.

Officials completed a comprehensive study analysing the EU27 member states and EEA nations, with researchers also including EFTA nations, the UK, the western Balkans, and Turkey.

Europe's happiest and most miserable cities have been ranked in a new map exploring the EU's quality of life. In 2023, the European Commission released a report exploring people's satisfaction with their cities across the bloc and beyond.

Officials completed a comprehensive study analysing the EU27 member states and EEA nations, with researchers also including EFTA nations, the UK, the western Balkans, and Turkey.

They discovered significant variations in the happiness of Europeans, with nearly just half of residents in some cities being happy with their local services.

But the overall satisfaction with European cities also followed a trend, with northern countries seeming to fare the best.

The European Commission analysed the quality of life in more than a dozen cities across the continent, asking people whether they felt satisfied living in their communities.

Researchers explored how people felt about their public service and amenities and their local experiences, including with local crime or whether they felt safe walking alone at night.

The results returned 10 cities with the highest satisfaction and another 10 with the lowest, with each community plotted on a map with a colour representing the proportion of people who felt happy with their quality of life.

Purple and maroon colours were used to represent the areas with the least satisfaction, and green and white to represent those with the most.

The vast majority of the highest, the research found, were located in northern nations, while southerners were generally much less happy with their city living experience

The researchers found Londoners were largely satisfied, with just below 85 percent of residents happy with their experiences.

The top 10 cities with the highest satisfaction rates include:Zürich (Switzerland): 97 percent
Copenhagen (Denmark): 96 percent
Groningen (Netherlands): 96 percent
Gdask (Poland): 95 percent
Leipzig (Denmark): 95 percent
Stockholm (Sweden): 95 percent
Geneva (Switzerland): 95 percent
Rostock (Germany): 94 percent
Cluj-Napoca (Romania): 94 percent
Braga (Portugal): 94 percent

The 10 European cities with the lowest satisfaction rates include:Palermo (Italy): 62 percent
Athens (Greece): 65 percent
Istanbul (Turkey): 65 percent
Tirana (Albania): 66 percent
Naples (Italy): 66 percent
Belgrade (Serbia): 69 percent
Rome (Italy): 71 percent
Skopje (Macedonia): 72 percent
Miskolc (Hungary): 74 percent
Podgorica (Montenegro): 77 percent